{"id":4238,"date":"2018-06-30T20:15:51","date_gmt":"2018-06-30T20:15:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/canyoncartography.com\/?page_id=576"},"modified":"2018-06-30T20:15:51","modified_gmt":"2018-06-30T20:15:51","slug":"product-creation","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/digital-desert.com\/blog\/product-creation\/","title":{"rendered":"Product Creation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Both the Chantry Flat – Mt. Wilson Trails and Trails of Wrightwood – Big Pines maps were drawn by hand using Rapidograph pens. \u00a0Back in the mid 1980’s, while at Humboldt State University, we cartography students used this style of mechanical pen to draw maps. \u00a0India ink was laid down on heavy Bristol paper. \u00a0I was a geography major way before the advent of the internet and mapping was, for the most part, \u00a0still in the realm of the analog world. \u00a0Hand-drawn maps were to put it mildly, a myopic event. \u00a0 Back then, we had to pass a drafting exam before being hired on to draw maps.<\/p>\n

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Close up of laying down the india ink with a “OO size” nib Rapidograph on Bristol 500 lb. paper.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

My first job out of college was with Thomas Bros. Maps in Irvine. \u00a0Back in 1986, we were tracing changes to roads that were picked up by air photos. \u00a0These photos were positive transparencies that allowed light to pass through them when placed on big light tables. \u00a0Our job as cartographic drafters was to manually draw in the changes on large mylar panels, making them “print-ready” for creating updated street atlases. \u00a0 \u00a0Thomas Bros.<\/a> <\/em>\u00a0Maps is now long-gone, passing \u00a0with the advent of the digital age and especially apps such as Google Maps. \u00a0You just might still have an old dusty spiral-bound Thomas Guide hidden under the seat of the car. \u00a0If you’re over 40, you’ll likely remember these map books. \u00a0See:\u00a0Madeleine Brand Show KPCC 89.3<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

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Here I’m using a rapidograph to trace the pencilled in line work for the first edition of the Chantry Flat trails map back in 2011.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Now, \u00a0fast forward twenty-five years later. \u00a0After working 24 years as a camp manager, 20 of them at Sturtevant Camp in the Big Santa Anita Canyon, I had not much as even looked at my old drafting supplies mothballed in an old cardboard box. \u00a0 \u00a0I had some time on my hands during 2011 and it suddenly hit me that it’d be fun to draw a map of the hiking trails in the Big Santa Anita Canyon. \u00a0 I bought a drawing table and cleaned out the dried ink in my old Rapidographs. \u00a0 \u00a0The first map to be made was going to be of the trails in and around Chantry Flats above Arcadia. \u00a0So, how to do this? \u00a0Using an older (1995) \u00a0Mt. Wilson U.S.G.S. 7 1\/2 minute topographic map for a base to work off of was the first step. \u00a0The topo map provided an accurate image to base my project on, especially with the benchmarks as a basis for creating a framework to draw within. \u00a0 Next, I made a clear mylar grid which was laid over the “topo” map. \u00a0The grid created 1″x 1″ squares that were photocopied over sections of the topo map to make working copies to take out into the field. \u00a0It was in comparing the differences between the hiking trails shown on the U.S.G.S. Mount Wilson quadrangle with what was actually out in the field that became the heart of the project. \u00a0 I’d draw in the changes on the enlarged topo map sections with a vermilion colored art pencil. \u00a0At home, a large sheet of Bristol drawing paper was overlaid with a 6″x 6″ grid to draw within, \u00a0greatly increasing the scale of what was being drawn off my field copies. \u00a0 Basically, this age old practice of mechanically increasing the scale of a map while maintaining proportion provided room to draw.<\/p>\n

Even though I had grown up hiking around Chantry Flats and thought<\/em> I had<\/p>\n

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Working copies of base map with superimposed grid. My clip board is laying next to the Michelson benchmark located up on Mt. Wilson. This photo was taken while drawing in detail on Mt. Wilson’s summit.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

much of the terrain in my mind, drawing in the changes while out on the trails made it all look amazingly new. \u00a0 What I thought I knew about these canyons while hiking over the years was one thing. \u00a0 Then stopping to draw it was quite another! \u00a0 Usually the pattern was drawing in a small section of realigned trail, erasing it and drawing it back in, again, until it was right. \u00a0Occasional drops of sweat dripping off the end of my nose, deer flies and low light levels intervened with endless erasing on the clipboard. \u00a0By now, you’ve got to be wondering why I didn’t just set way points with a GPS… \u00a0As of this writing, I still don’t carry a GPS (global positioning device) while out hiking. \u00a0It’s not that I don’t see the value in plotting where one’s been while hiking, running or biking. \u00a0 When there’s a time constraint or desire to gauge your progress, then by all means, GPS is a great tool. \u00a0Keeping an orienteering compass as a back-up isn’t a bad idea either. \u00a0Likely, \u00a0as in any choices we make, what we actually end up doing comes down to a matter of preference.<\/p>\n

Drawing, for me, has always been a slow, almost meditative process. \u00a0The use<\/p>\n

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The selected area for the first map, Trails of Big Santa Anita Canyon, is the penciled in rectangle in the lower right. The Mt. Wilson addition appears attached to the upper left corner of original rectangle. You can see that Mount Zion appears in center top of first map. Mount Wilson appears toward the left in cop of the addition.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

of map and compass while out in the mountains happens to be the route that works best for my head. \u00a0 Using a compass along with a topographic quadrangle really helps me to settle into the landscape. \u00a0 Taking the time to pour over the placement of contour lines in depicting the shape and steepness of a mountainside helps with focus and developing a sense of place. \u00a0Taking the time to orient the map to true north adds orientation, putting the image on the map right with the rest of the good earth. \u00a0 Taking time to ponder your next move, especially when traveling x-country up a wild canyon or walking single-track trail, adds to a sense of presence of where you are, absorbing the magic of the place. \u00a0 This isn’t a fast activity. \u00a0Hiking and drawing like this is slow art.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

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The East Table Mountain Trail has just been drawn in using the vermilion artist pencil. This trail appears on the Trails of Wrightwood – Big Pines map. Notice the 12 degrees of easterly declination that had to be adjusted for obtaining True North on the orienteering compass.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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So, back to creating the maps. \u00a0After all the trails, roads, streams, benchmarks, campsites, scale bar, neat line, legend and other cultural features were drawn in, it was time to digitize the images. \u00a0The inked paper maps were ran through a roller scanner at a resolution of 300 dpi. \u00a0These originals are quite big, \u00a0about 30″ x 40″ in size. \u00a0Once scanned and saved to a flash drive, the black and white \u00a0map image along with subsequent ones, would be available for editing with a basic PhotoShop program. \u00a0 At home, \u00a0I attached a graphics tablet to my laptop and began the process of nearly endless editing, colorizing and repairing of goofs. \u00a0What I thought in the beginning would take a few weeks turned into months before it was time to print. \u00a0The last map drawn, Trails of Wrightwood – Big Pines, took about seven months from start to finish. \u00a0 \u00a0In the beginning, the maps were printed on text paper, yet fell apart way too soon after just a few hikes. \u00a0Currently, the maps are being printed on synthetic map paper made from recycled plastics.<\/p>\n

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A basic orienteering compass along with a topographic map make for a potent combination while navigating out in the mountains. This area of the Mount San Antonio quadrangle depicts the confluence of the Prairie Fork with Vincent and Mine Gulches. Mine Gulch campsite is just to the left (across Vincent Gulch stream) of the spot marked BM x 4505. The East Fork of the San Gabriel River continues on toward the south.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The end result is an accurate easy-to-use larger scale map, allowing you to clearly see details along your hike. \u00a0 \u00a0The Chantry Flat – Mt. Wilson Trails map is printed front and back with contour lines drawn at 200′ intervals. \u00a0 The Trails of Wrightwood – Big Pines map is printed on one side and covers a significantly larger area in the eastern San Gabriels.<\/p>\n

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Both the Chantry Flat – Mt. Wilson Trails and Trails of Wrightwood – Big Pines maps were drawn by hand using Rapidograph pens. \u00a0Back in the mid 1980’s, while at Humboldt State University, we cartography students used this style of mechanical pen to draw maps. \u00a0India ink was laid down on heavy Bristol paper. \u00a0I … Continue reading “Product Creation”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-4238","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digital-desert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digital-desert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digital-desert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digital-desert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digital-desert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/digital-desert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4238\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digital-desert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}